July 11—17, 2016 Ukraine: Weekly Highlights

Ukrainian Weekly Highlights July 11—17, 2016 from Digests & Analytics Ukraine

Ukraine is waiting for an early parliamentary election – Corruption vs. the next IMF tranche – Growing terrorist threat in Europe and the "visa-free regime" for Ukraine – Minsk negotiations in a deadlock – The second anniversary of the MH17 crash – Ukraine is taking a step towards Canada – The aftermaths of the Turkish coup for Ukraine

Ukrainian Weekly Highlights March 7–13, 2016

Ukrainian Weekly Highlights March 7–13, 2016 from Digests & Analytics Ukraine

Government and Parliament still in limbo – A hole in the budget of the Pension Fund – Government cannot reach agreement with the IMF – Nadezhda Savchenko as Russia’s international problem – Minsk talks in a deadlock – Fighting intensified in Avdiyivka – Poroshenko's visit to Turkey

01/30/2016 Ukraine: Daily Highlights -Repeat elections in Kryvyi Rih will be held on March 27, 2016

Repeat elections in Kryvyi Rih will be held on March 27, 2016

01.30.2016 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Repeat elections in Kryvyi Rih will be held on March 27, 2016.
• Constitutional Court started consideratingn the amendments to the Constitution related to justice reform.
• US Ambassador Pyatt said that creating the "Ministry of Truth" in Ukraine was a big mistake.
• Main Investigations Directorate of the Prosecutor General’s Office caught fire.

01/20/2016 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Militants disrupted the exchange of prisoners and demand to hold elections without the Ukrainian authorities participation

Militants disrupted the exchange of prisoners

01.20.2016 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Militants disrupted the exchange of prisoners and demand to hold elections without the Ukrainian authorities participation.
• The list of Russian goods, prohibited to import to Ukraine, was expanded.
• Soviet emblem will be removed from the shield of the Motherland Monument in Kyiv.

12/05/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine celebrated the Volunteer Day

Ukraine celebrated the Volunteer Day

12.05.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine celebrated the Volunteer Day.
• Russia threatens to take Ukraine to the court for non-payment of "Yanukovych debt."
• On the eve of Day of the Armed Force apartments were given to military personnel.
• Well-known medical volunteer of the Right Sector Zinkevych a car accident.

12/04/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Russia blocked activity of OSCE mission in Ukraine

Russia blocked activity of OSCE mission in Ukraine

12.04.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Russia blocked activity of OSCE mission in Ukraine.
• Ukrainians do not believe the media belonging to oligarchs.
• Volunteers bought a new radar system for the flagship frigate "Getman Sahaidachny."
• The oligarch Kolomoisky reveal secret agreement with Poroshenko.

12/02/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine produced a record amount of grain

Ukraine produced a record amount of grain

12.02.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine produced a record amount of grain.
• Launch of the "energy bridge" to the Crimea with Putin’s participation failed.
• All the KGB archives will be transferred to the Institute of National Remembrance.

11/28/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine commemorated the victims of the Holodomor

Ukraine commemorated the victims of the Holodomor

11.28.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine commemorated the victims of the Holodomor.
• Interpol, at the Russia’s request,  detained in Rome nationalist Korchinsky.
• Klitschko lost in the championship fight against British boxer Fury.

11/27/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Two candidates were selected for the position of the anti-corruption prosecutor

Two candidates were selected for the position of the anti-corruption prosecutor

11.27.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Two candidates were selected for the position of the anti-corruption prosecutor.
• Border guards detained two Russian soldiers in the Luhansk region.
• Turkish studio created a promo video about the Ukrainian army.

11/26/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Parliament adopted a package of laws on decentralization

Parliament adopted a package of laws on decentralization

11.26.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Parliament adopted a package of laws on decentralization.
• President Poroshenko wants to become a member of the European Parliament after the first or second term.
• The Interior Ministry has no claims to the oligarch Firtash who is about to return to Ukraine.

2015/11/25 Ucraina: I principali eventi e temi del giorno - Vietato il transito di voli delle compagnie aeree russe su Ucraina

Vietato il transito di voli delle compagnie aeree russe su Ucraina

I principali eventi e le questioni del giorno 11.25.2015 dall'agenzia Digest e Analitica Ucraina

Temi media e social network

• Vietato il transito di voli delle compagnie aeree russe su Ucraina.
• Presidente Poroshenko ha presentato al Parlamento il progetto di modifiche alla Costituzione in materia di riforma del sistema giudiziario.
• I militanti hanno rinnovato gli attacchi contro il territorio ucraino da MLRS "Grad".
• Dazio all'importazione è abolito su veicoli elettrici.

11/25/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Transit traffic of Russian airplanes over Ukraine was banned

Transit traffic of Russian airplanes over Ukraine was banned

11.25.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Transit traffic of Russian airplanes over Ukraine was banned.
• President Poroshenko submitted to the Parliament draft amendments to the Constitution on the ​​judicial reform.
• The militants renewed shelling of the Ukrainian territory using MLRS "Grad".
• Import duty on electric vehicles was abolished .

11/24/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Turkish Air Forces shot down a Russian bomber

Turkish Air Forces shot down a Russian bomber

11.24.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Turkish Air Forces shot down a Russian bomber.
• Ukraine is preparing to resume power supplies to Crimea.
• An ill-famed MIA official was appointed First Deputy Head of the National Police.

11/01/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Poroshenko said that the authorities are not going to stop arrests after Korban

President Poroshenko was interviewed by Ukrainian TV channels

11.01.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Poroshenko said that the authorities are not going to stop arrests after Korban.
• Yatsenyuk insists on the immediate adoption of "crucial laws" by the Verkhovna Rada.
• The court rejected a request of candidate for mayor of Odessa Borovik to recount votes.
• French politician Mariani lost his position due to his visit to Crimea.

10/16/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Cabinet approved the reform of management of Naftogaz

The Cabinet approved the reform of management of Naftogaz

10.16.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The Cabinet approved the reform of management of Naftogaz.
• Militants interrupted the release of the hostages.
• The former head of the SSU Nalyvaychenko claims existence of the "Russian trace" in the shooting of activists of the Maidan.
• President Poroshenko presented 26-year-old new head of the regional Custom in Odessa.

10/15/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council

Ukraine became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council

10.15.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
• 11 Ukrainian soldiers were injured as a result of landmine explosions in Donbas.
• The EU will cooperate with Turkey to resolve the problem of illegal migrants.
• Mobile operator MTS is ready to work in Ukraine under the Vodafone brand under a franchise agreement.
• Poroshenko wants to make English the second working language of the Ukrainian state institutions.

Key Events in Ukraine

• Minister of Economic Development and Trade Abromavicius said that Russian companies will not be allowed to take part in the privatization of Ukrainian enterprises.
• The Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case against the SBU employees for hindering the work of journalists. Head of Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv instructed the First National TV Channel not to release a program on the luxury cars of SBU employees, considering it a violation of the law.
• MP Leshchenko released the evidence of the involvement of the Head of Presidential Administration Lozhkin in money laundering case investigated by Austrian prosecutors.
  Former SBU head Nalyvaychenko reported at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Combating Corruption on the results of the investigation conducted by the FBI and the Latvian Office for the Prevention of Money Laundering on offshore companies related to Kononenko, Deputy Chairman of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction. Journalists released information on another flat in London owned by the head of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine Nasirov.
• NBU slightly strengthened the official hryvnia rate: 21.69 ₴/$ (-0.24 UAH), 24.81 ₴/€ (-0.13 UAH), 3.48 ₴/10 ₽ (-0.04 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• Two women tripped over tripwire in the village of Stanytsya Luhanska. Two soldiers walked over tripwire in the same village, and nine other people were blown up by a land mine in the Stanytsya Luhanska district.
  The Information Resistance NGO reports that the militants are finishing the construction of the second line of defense and concealing military equipment near the line of fighting.
  The UK is trying to find out where the LPR militants got TOS-1 Buratino multiple rocket launchers manufactured only in Russia.
  Anti-Terrorist Operation Headquarters stated that there have been no violations of the Minsk Agreement and that the Ukrainian army continues the withdrawal of weapons.
• Reconnaissance has found centers to recruit mercenaries to Syria in the occupied Donbas.
• The OSCE mission reported that the access for DPR militants to the border with Russia was banned.
• Ukraine has resumed its TV and radio broadcast for the occupied city of Luhansk and the adjacent territories.

Ukraine and the World

• The EU granted Frontex, the European External Borders Agency, the authority to forcibly deport illegal immigrants on its own initiative.
• Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expressed protest to Russia over the biased ruling of a Moscow court against the former director of the Poltava defense plant Soloshchenko.
• European leaders agreed to grant €3 billion to Turkey, to easy visa requirements and to hold talks on EU membership in exchange for preventing illegal migrant traffic from Turkey to the EU territory and for providing them with necessary facilities in Turkey.
  German parliament passed a law tightening the immigration legislation.
  Bulgarian border guards shot dead an illegal migrant from Afghanistan during a clash at the border.
• American Republican Party presidential candidate Trump sees no sufficient grounds to accuse Donbas militants of downing flight MH17. He believes that the US should neither take action in this respect nor intervene in the conflict in Ukraine.
• The EBRD will grant a loan of €100 million to Chernihiv, Odesa, Chernivtsy and other cities to purchase public transport and improve infrastructure.
• The meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of Creditors of Ukraine in London failed to reach the quorum. However, its attendees issued a resolution stating the terms of restructuring of Ukraine's external debt. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk stated that the creditors "decided to reduce an overall debt of Ukraine by a total amount worth US$3 billion and to restructure the corresponding debt for a total sum of US$8.5 billion."  The Committee of Creditors is scheduled to meet again on October 29. The Ministry of Finance stated that Russia had the last chance to join Ukrainian Eurobonds holders for the final decision on Ukrainian debt restructuring.

The Trends

• According to experts, the introduction of excise duty on imported cars significantly increased their cost, but neither revived Ukrainian car manufacturers nor increased tax revenues.

10/14/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Ukraine celebrated the Defender’s Day

Ukraine celebrated the Defender’s Day

10.14.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Ukraine celebrated the Defender’s Day.
• President Poroshenko flew a fighter aircraft in Zaporizhya.
• Moscow court sentenced a 73-year-old Ukrainian, former plant director, to a prison term for espionage.

07/28/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - An in absentia trial of former President Yanukovych and the officials of his regime started

An in absentia trial of former President Yanukovych and the officials of his regime started

07.28.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• An in absentia trial of former President Yanukovych and the officials of his regime started.
• The General Prosecutor accepted the resignation of his Deputy Guzyr, who defended the prosecutors involved in corruption.
• The National Bank agreed the conditions of work in Ukraine of the world's largest payment systems.

Key Events in Ukraine

• In Kiev, the ceremony to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the death of Prince Vladimir, the baptizer of the Kyiv Rus, which was attended by the President Poroshenko, took place
• President Poroshenko urged the public to discuss the steps to prevent the violations during the local elections on October 25 .
• The Deputy Head of the President Administration Shymkiv said that the European Union can allocate funding to support the reform of the public service, if the Parliament adopts a new law on public service and a full and detailed plan for public sector reforming is developed.
• General Prosecutor Shokin accepted the resignation of his first Deputy Guzyr.
• The General Prosecutor's Office started in absentia legal prosecution regarding six former members of the President Yanukovych clan and issued about a hundred requests to various countries for the confiscation of the property stolen by the former officials.
• Former Head of the SSU Counterintelligence Department Kondratyuk was appointed a new Head of the Intelligence Department of the Ministry of  Defence .
• Foreign Minister Klimkin claimed that the EU gave no guarantees for introduction of the visa-free regime, and  the main criterion for such decision will be a successful fight against corruption and a reform of the law-enforcement system.
• The National Commission for Radio Communication agreed the deprivation of anonymity of the mobile subscribers.
• The National Bank simplified the conditions for entry into the Ukrainian market for the international payment systems, including PayPal and ApplePay.
• The assets of the National Bank in the national currency increased by 27% during the first six months of the year.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate against the major currencies remains stable, but the ruble rate decreases, reflecting the situation at the Moscow Stock Exchange: 22.04 UAH/USD (-0.02 UAH) 24.30 UAH /EUR (-0,10 UAH), 3.66 UAH/RUR 10 (-0.09 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• Militant attacks  intensified near Shyrokine , shellings do not stop along all the fighting line, at night militants launched a massive attack on Schastya. Official reports inform about one dead Ukrainian soldier and 11 wounded.
• Ukrainian army creates a Rapid Reaction Force reserve , which will be used if the militants start offensive after the withdrawal of the heavy weapons by Ukraine.
• According to the UN figures, the number of victims of the conflict in eastern Ukraine is 7 thousand people, more than 17 thousand people were injured. The number of internally displaced persons continues to grow and has already reached 1.4 million people. The Government of Japan allocated $ 800 thousand for assistance for the displaced persons under the UN program, including their retraining and business development.
• The SSU showed a video of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate military, detained in Schastya, which, according to the Russian media, were allegedly exchanged for the Ukrainian hostages. However, according to the Adviser to the SSU Head Tandit, the Ukrainian side is considering the option of their exchange.

Ukraine and the World

• Following the French deputies, the members of the Italian Parliament are going to visit the Crimea in October. Realizing that they would be denied an entry to Ukraine, they still "want to see the situation in the Crimea with their own eyes."
• At the emergency NATO meeting in Brussels, the NATO countries supported the Turkish military operation against the militants of the Islamic state. Turkey does not need any military aid for fighting and is conducting arrests of the Islamic extremists, including those of Kurdish origin. The investigation revealed that the attack in the town of Suruç on the border with Syria was conducted by a Kurd,  recruited by the Islamic state extremists.
• According to the representative of Ukraine to the United Nations, Russia’s veto on a Security Council resolution regarding the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the MH-17 flight aircraft accident will not prevent its establishment.
• Secretary of State Kerry urged the US Congress to approve the agreement with Iran, which is ready to dismantle its nuclear program in response to the lightening of sanctions.
• US Ambassador to Ukraine Payette believes that Russia is increasing the number of its forces along the borders with Ukraine and on Ukrainian territory and continues to escalate the conflict in the Donbass. Together with the militants under its control it demonstrates the constant readiness to continue the offensive.
• Attorney of Ukrainian deputy Savchenko, Novikov states that the verdict regarding her case is already written, and the Russian court would give her the maximum sentence of 25 years.
• The SSU, on the proposal of the Ministry of Culture, has banned French actor Depardieu from the entry to Ukraine for 5 years for his anti-Ukrainian statements.
• Natural gas production by Russian "Gazprom" dropped during five months in 2015 by 13% due to lower exports, which resulted in decrease of investments in the production of the hydrocarbons.
• The WCO Council confirmed the compliance with the organization requirements of the additional trading fee, introduced by Ukraine .

The Trends

• By the President Poroshenko Decree, Gnatishin  was appointed an ambassador to Moldova, where he already was an ambassador in 1996-2000. However, the ambassadors for the key countries (Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and almost 20 other countries) are still not assigned. At the same time, Kyiv does not hesitate to receive the financial assistance and expertise from these countries. Deutsche Welle reported that such situation is connected with the shortage of personnel in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which qualified experienced diplomats are leaving en masse because of the low salaries and nepotism. According to the Head of Maydan of Foreign Affairs,   Yaremenko, absence of the  ambassadors in these countries is a result of incompetence of the MFA and failure of the President to fulfill his constitutional functions.
• In the opinion of the experts and representatives of the civil society, the replacement of the Deputy General Prosecutor by the successor, controlled by the sacked official, is a profanation of the reforms in the department. Deputy General Prosecutor Sakvarelidze and investigator Kasko, who headed the anti-corruption work, remained in their positions.